Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Ymirjar le-Peyroux was a great magician, possibly the greatest of them all. He was born about 3,000 years ago, when the magic arts were still not widespread among humans.

Back then, magic's inheritance relied on bloodlines, as well as some insane, brutal experiments, which were extremely resource-intensive. This resulted in the commoners lacking even the most basic understanding of magicians, which caused the commoners to be very fearful and hostile. In that era, the guardian deity of humans was the God of Knights. In the eyes of the human world, magic was still a dangerous art that was best avoided.

Ymirjar le-Peyroux was originally a mage apprentice. Actually, they weren't even called mages back then, but sorcerers. He began his journey by learning the dangerous and cruel black magics, which focused on destruction and plundering.

Later on, he learned to become less extreme, tempering his discipline with white magic, which emphasized cooperation and togetherness. In the midst of repeated adventures and battles, he grew swiftly, finally becoming a powerful and great sorcerer, the strongest of his era.

He then began traveling the world, researching different magical knowledge, and absorbing many new ideas about magic. Approximately 200 years later, he returned to human society, slaughtering all of the Sun and Moon ranked sorcerers, but leaving behind the mid-ranked Star sorcerers, as well as the apprentices ranked below that.

After a thorough extermination of the highest echelons of the human magic society, he began to promote his ideas and theories, constructing a new magic system. This new system was open and moderate, and even children could give it a try.

Moreover, anyone was welcomed to give their feedback on the new system. More importantly, this new system wasn't walking the path of plunder and consumption. Instead, it placed great emphasis on being systematic, coordinating harmony between man and nature. In order to fight the old magic, which developed from the elf spells, this new system was much closer to being a variant of elf spells and dragon magic.

As time went by, Ymirjar le-Peyroux's new magic system was always being questioned. Many people were ridiculing him behind his back, but at last, he succeeded. The new magic system was established and developed vigorously.

In the blink of an eye, around 1,000 years had passed, and Ymirjar le-Peyroux began to reflect once more. He reckoned that his own magic system still had many shortcomings, especially regarding the progression from the High Order level onwards.

He felt that the path ahead was murky, with no suitable direction for future generations to learn from and follow. As such, he brought a group of students to the Southern Plateaus, then constructed a magic tower to embark on brand new research. This magic tower would later be hailed as The Supreme Tower.

This time, there were two topics that he wanted to focus his research on. The first was regarding the path to a higher plane of magic cultivation. The second was regarding the construction of a mage society. The results of the latter were well known, as it was the creation of the Mifata Federation, otherwise hailed as the Country of Mages. As for the former, those results were finally revealed before the eyes of the masses.

The greatest mage, who was the founder of modern magic and hailed as The Supreme Mage, Ymirjar le-Peyroux, had finally reached the end of the path of magic! He was now ready to step into the realm of gods!

In a single moment, spellcasters across tens of thousands of worlds all felt the blood in their bodies running rampant, as though the magic power in their bodies was boiling, to the point where they could hear the cheers emanating from the Source of the World. For the mages trapped on the peak, who were unable to find the way forward on the path of magic, each suddenly felt as though they had seen the light. It was as though a great pathway had opened in front of them. As long as they walked down this road, their futures would be limitless and bright!

As for the youths who were working hard to advance along the path of magic, they felt as though their minds were enlivened as well. The magic power that resisted their commands previously, was now docile and obedient. The magic structures that used to take painstakingly long hours, now came easily, as though they had undergone divine possession!

From that moment on, the world's spellcasters had obtained a lamp that could shine throughout the ages, illuminating the path towards the heavens. The wizened pioneers, who had carved the path forwards, finally cut through the thorny brambles on their path, opening this brilliant road and giving direction to all sorcerers.

Even for the mages, whose path led them down a different direction, they could still gain some enlightenment by looking at Ymirjar le-Peyroux's path. If they had to rely purely on luck for their accomplishments previously, they now had access to vital reference material to aid them in their development.

Thus, everything was good! But for Wor, it was a disastrous turn of events…

He did not object to Ymirjar le-Peyroux's being elevated to godhood. However, the ideas that this God of Spellcasters proclaimed were the exact opposite of what he believed. In fact, it could be said that they were completely incompatible.

The creed that commanded one to "protect the great wisdom" had two meanings. The first meaning indicated that he was the Master of Mystery, born from the God of Wisdom and Magic. The second meaning meant that he wanted to protect the priestly duties of wisdom to the very end, stopping all that would divide and threaten this priestly act.

So, who was dividing and undermining the priestly duties of those in service to the God of Wisdom and Magic?

It could only be Wor…

Wor's priesthood was that of knowledge, and knowledge came from the splitting of wisdom. When he became a god, the originally perfect wisdom god was split into two halves. The logical and rational half formed the basis for knowledge, and the aspects that were associated with sensitivity and realization formed the basis for Mystery.

When the Master of Mystery previously came to visit, he had asked Wor if he was interested in becoming one of his subordinates. But, he refused. He had long ago firmly decided to be unchanging in his loyalty to His Majesty Void Mask.

From that moment on, the position of the god of wisdom began to slowly split and collapse. If it had not been for the Master of Mystery's using his divine power to forcibly chain them together, it would have long disintegrated into the two separate positions of knowledge and mystery.

Everyone knew that the Master of Mystery would never remain silent, but would dumbly endure to the point where he could not even sustain himself. The entire Church of the Void Mask had already sharpened their weapons and fed their horses, making ample preparations for a massive war against the Church of the Master of Mystery. Even Wor himself had made two different preparations.

If things went smoothly, he would fight. If not, he would destroy himself. Regardless, he would not betray the lord god he had sworn allegiance to, nor would he let himself become a burden to his lord.

It was just that, no matter how much he had thought, he had never imagined that the Master of Mystery would not make a move. Instead, it was the newly ascended God of Spellcasters that had targeted him.

No matter how you said it, his words had already left his mouth, so they could not be easily changed. The two gods had such irreconcilable differences in their fundamental beliefs, a large battle seemed unavoidable.

The only thing that was keeping everyone in suspense was wondering when exactly this battle was going to happen. Wor pondered to himself, but said nothing. It was at this moment that the one who had previously announced his clergy and ideals, Ymirjar le-Peyroux, opened his mouth.

"The God of Knowledge Wor, fragmented from Wisdom, I am hereby making a declaration of war on you! Please make your preparations. I will be there shortly."

This time, it wasn't just Wor that jumped in fright. Sui Xiong, Morani, Javier and even Yorgaardman all received a huge shock, too.

"The way this god of spellcasters does things is too clean and neat," he couldn't resist murmuring to himself. "He just barely ascended to godhood, and he already wants to start a fight! Is he trying to set a record to be the fastest god to fall?"

"He's definitely left a doppelganger, who he can use to revive the Master of Mystery. Even if he loses, it's just a body that dies. With the endless amount of divine power that the Master of Mystery possesses, he can also make a full recovery quickly." Morani sighed as she spoke.

Javier thought differently from the rest, as he said with some worry in his voice, "Master Ymirjar was the strongest back in his day, even before he ascended to godhood. I don't dare say that I could have defeated him, but now that he has successfully ascended, with his increase in power… Will the God of Knowledge be able to defeat him?"

"Even if he can't win, there's still me!" Sui Xiong said. "If he dares come, I'll beat him to the point where he can't even care for himself!"

"He said he's coming for a duel…"

"His words don't count for onions!" Sui Xiong didn't take javier's reminder seriously, laughing as he said, "He wants to fight one-on-one, so we have to fight one-on-one? I'm not his dad, so I don't give a damn!"

"If that's the case, the Master of Mystery will have a reason to intervene," Morani said anxiously. "Not only that, but Ymirjar le-Peyroux had many friends in his time. Even in the realm of the gods, there are many who are on good terms with him. If he has a one-on-one duel with Wor, regardless of the results, none of those friends will intervene. But if you intervene…"

"How many will come to help?" Sui Xiong's heart thumped wildly.

Morani counted in her head for a while, before saying, "A conservative estimate would be ten."

"What ranks are they?"

"There are at least two or three of them that I am not confident in defeating." Sui Xiong took a deep breath, he was finally beginning to get worried.

However, worrying wouldn't help matters. The important thing was to solve the issue. But…how exactly should they solve it?

"If the Master of Mystery takes action, leave it to me," the God of Justice said. "There are many mortal spectators here. As long as Wor insists on fighting here, I can intervene to protect the mortals. Of course, in order to protect the mortals, I can't allow gods that are too powerful to intervene in this fight."

"I'll go and persuade them. Maybe I can talk a few of them into going away." As Javier said that, his body gradually faded from view. He had already moved his body to talk to those gods, who were on good terms with the god of spellcasters, hoping to convince them not to interfere.

His strength was mediocre, so if they really got into a fight, he wouldn't be able to help at all. As such, he could only be of use through diplomacy.

Sui Xiong hadn't even been able to express his thanks yet, when he felt the surrounding space violently shudder. Then, a brilliant golden portal appeared in the nearby sky, and a white-haired old man, who was wearing mage robes, stepped out.

"Hello, Your Majesty the God of Knowledge." He cut to the point and said, "I've made you wait too long, so let us begin."

Saying that, he raised the staff in his hand.